Dorothy Chapman Josey grew up in Spartanburg and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from the University of Georgia in 1975. She moved to New York in 1980 and worked from 1981-1988 at TIME magazine where she was Deputy Art Director of cover art. After moving back to Spartanburg in 1988, in the fall of 1995 she started painting and drawing again after a 20-year hiatus.